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OPINION

Veterans Day: Some battles are never forgotten

At 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, in the Port of Rochester building off Lake Avenue, the five surviving military comrades of the Genesee Valley Chapter of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge will conduct their last Veterans Day ceremony honoring all U.S. service veterans. Chapter President Jack Foy will preside. Only five of the 99 veterans remain. Please join us for this last event, as there shall not be another held by this group of true American veterans, gentlemen and heroes.

The Genesee Valley Chapter formed in 1998 when U.S. Army veteran Richard Brookins (the subject of Tim Gray’s 2015 documentary The American St. Nick, a True Story, which premiered at the Little Theatre prior to being shown on PBS) initiated a local chapter of this national group of Battle of the Bulge veterans. Soon, nearly 100 male and female local veterans had joined. Brookins, Marty Cocca, Mitch Kaidy, Tom Hope, Dave Bush and Jack Foy have all served as the chapter president. My father, Joe Brandt, served as treasurer.

In October 2005, with the gracious assistance of a state grant secured by State Sen. Joe Robach, the World War II Battle of the Bulge permanent monument was dedicated at the corner of Lake and Beach avenues in Charlotte. It speaks to the enormous price paid by the allies to stop the last offensive of the Third Reich in December 1944 and January 1945. In weeks of snow and sub-zero temperatures, 600,000 American G.I.s fought and defeated the Nazis. America lost 19,000 killed, with 62,000 wounded or missing in action. It was the bloodiest battle in Europe but it paved the path to victory as the war on that continent ended 10 weeks later in early May 1945.

Battles such as this are never forgotten. I have heard the men of this chapter talk about events during the six weeks of the battle as if it were six or seven weeks ago, not 60 or 70 years ago.

In 1982, my father, my son and I traveled to England, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany as we retraced his years serving in the U.S. Army during 1942-45. He showed us places where he was: Normandy, Paris, Aachen, Malmedy, Bastogne, St. Vith and Remagen. He showed us the place on the east end of the Bridge at Remagen on the Rhine where he was wounded, where the war ended for him in mid-March 1945. He remembered it all, with a few smiles, a few stories and some long-suppressed tears.

Most of these men are gone now. But five still remain. I urge you to come and show your love and respect for these senior heroes. Jack Foy, Wilbur Cooper, Max Boudakian, Joe Versage and Marty Cocca will welcome you.

Gary Brandt is a Pittsford resident.

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